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For some of us, the success of Ayashimon manga may already be baked into the cake considering that it was a new manga by the same mangaka behind Jigokuraku.

But what awaits us is the manga cancelation, with Chapter 25 being the final chapter.

Sure, it’s not unusual for the manga to end prematurely. We have plenty of Shonen Jump manga that meet the same fate as Ayashimon.

The Hunters Guild: Red Hood and Phantom Seer come to mind when it comes to the manga that ends prematurely.

And Ayashimon is no exception here. After all, the adage that past success doesn’t guarantee future success speaks volumes in this situation.

The manga is bound to end prematurely if it doesn’t do well in the reader survey.

That’s the fate of any manga that is serialized on Shonen Jump.

But then again, it’s still sad to see that a manga like Ayashimon has to end in an odd way.

Perhaps the manga may have a better chance if it’s serialized on Jump Plus instead of Shonen Jump.

What got Ayashimon manga to get canceled in the first place

The bland main character and the story are meh at best. That’s what most people are saying about the manga.

Well, they’re not wrong about that. The character design for the main character, Maruo, does look bland at least by the Shonen Jump standard.

But you can also say the same thing about the main character for Jigokuraku, Gabimaru. There’s nothing spectacular about his character design.

Heck, he’s not even the ikemen-type of guy too just like Maruo.

What makes him stand out the most is his top-notch ability to kill his enemies without any shred of remorse and his love for his wife.

The same goes for Maruo where what makes him stand out is he’s a lot stronger and more resilient than the average human.

You can add his obsessions with manga, particularly the action ones, into the mix as well.

Strangely enough, most of us aren’t even complaining about the character design for Gabimaru at all.

The reason for that may have something to do with the Jump Plus readers don’t put much emphasis on having a cool-looking character.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that the Jump Plus readers don’t care about the character design at all.

It’s just that having a cool and flashy character isn’t enough to get them to read the manga considering that the demographic for Jump Plus tends to be older than the demographic for Shonen Jump.

So, a character like Maruo tends to do better in a publication like Jump Plus since having a cool-looking character isn’t the main reason why someone would want to read the manga.

But the story is just plain meh

Even if the manga is serialized on Jump Plus, it’s not going to save the manga if the story is boring as hell.

Well, if we leave the story as it is, of course.

The story of having Maruo beating the crap out of the yokai may seem like the kind of story that will do well in Shonen Jump.

But it’s not going to be enough if it’s for Jump Plus.

The story needs to be intriguing enough and it has to be something that the readers will never expect at all, with complexity thrown in the mix.

This is what missing from Ayashimon since the story tends to be straightforward compared to Jigokuraku.

Well, it makes sense since the manga is for Shonen Jump.

Of course, it doesn’t need to have multiple layers of complexity like the one we’ve seen in The Vertical World.

But the story should be intriguing enough to draw readers to keep coming back every single week.

That seems to be the case for Jigokuraku. Sure, it’s already mysterious enough that anyone who went to the island ended up coming back dead in a strange way.

But things are getting more mysterious when they see for themselves the things that they’re getting into when they’re on the island.

If Ayashimon is getting a revival in any shape or form, it can adopt the same story concept as Jigokuraku.

Does it matter where the manga gets serialized?

For some of us, it may not matter that much where the manga gets serialized. They seem to be the same, anyway.

Well, you’re not wrong to think that way especially when you read the manga through Manga PLUS.

But nope, Shonen Jump and Jump Plus aren’t the same, especially with the type of manga that they publish.

And they’re targeting a different demographic too, with Shonen Jump targeting a younger demographic whereas Jump Plus is targeting a slightly older demographic.

The publication rule is different too where the reader survey rules the popularity of the manga.

You can guess what will happen to the manga that doesn’t receive a lot of votes. It feels like the death penalty where the mangaka only has a few chapters to wrap up the story.

With so many manga series ending prematurely every single month, why do many mangakas still want to publish their work on Shonen Jump?

Well, Shonen Jump has a larger readership compared to Jump Plus. So, it makes sense to publish their work on Shonen Jump.

If you can make it big in Shonen Jump, you have no problem making it big in a different publication.

What the future holds

While I won’t deny that the story in Ayashimon isn’t as intriguing as Jigoraku, it’s still sad to see that the manga ended in a cliffhanger.

Maybe the manga may have a better chance if the story in Ayashimon has the same vibe as Jigoraku where there’s a mystery to unfold.

And what awaits Maruo, Urara and Doppo Akari may not be what we expect.

Knowing Shonen Jump readers, I doubt that the story will reach that point considering that they tend to be the impatient lot.

Whether we get to see Ayashimon making a comeback or not is anyone’s guess.

But I can only hope that Yuji Kaku’s next manga to be just as good, if not better than Jigokuraku.

And let’s just hope that it will be for Jump Plus this time. I kind of miss reading manga that has mysteries waiting to unfold, and violent action scenes with nudity in plain sight.

In case you’re wondering, that’s Jigokuraku in a nutshell.

P.S If you’re looking for something similar to Jigokuraku but takes place in Tokyo in the near future, then you’re going to enjoy reading my Trigger Locked series.

It’s a thriller light novel with the female lead.

Curious what the series is all about? You can take a look at the first book from the series right here on my Payhip store:

Trigger Locked Book 1: The Mind Control Assassins

Interested in buying the book? Don’t forget to use the coupon code SEKINAMAYUBLOG during checkout to receive 25% off on your order.

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